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Piriformospora indica improves micropropagation, growth and phytochemical content of Aloe vera L. plants

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Abstract

The study was undertaken to investigate the effect of symbiotic fungus Piriformospora indica on the phytochemical content of medicinal plant Aloe vera L. The in vitro culture of A. vera was initiated with rhizomatous stem, where MS medium containing 0.5 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/l NAA was found to be the best for multiple shoot proliferation. Interaction of A. vera with P. indica resulted in an overall increase in plant biomass and chlorophyll content. Improved growth was observed in terms of higher shoot and root length, number of shoots and roots in P. indica colonised A. vera plantlets, both under in vitro and ex vitro environment. The simple acclimatization procedure ensured 100 % survival rate for the colonised A. vera plantlets. Root colonization by P. indica increased the gel content in A. vera by 16.5 %. The symbiotic interaction resulted in an increase in phenol content and radical scavenging capacity. The colonised plantlets also had higher aloin content, which is used as a laxative and is a potential anticancer agent. The study demonstrated the potential of P. indica as a biopriming agent for achieving better growth, survival of in vitro raised plantlets and enhancement in secondary metabolite content.

Key message: Symbiotic root endophyte primed A. vera plants exhibit better growth, quality and can meet ever increasing industrial demand.

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Abbreviations

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

BAP:

6-Benzylaminopurine

NAA:

α-Naphthaleneacetic acid

HPLC:

High performance liquid chromatography

DPPH:

1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl

AMF:

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

BSA:

Bovine serum albumin

TFA:

Trifluoroacetic acid

MQ:

Milli Q

UV:

Ultraviolet

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Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Government of India for providing financial assistance. We are thankful to Anil Chandra, Prasun Bandyopadhyay and Kartikeya Rajpal for carrying out the statistical analysis and helping in revision of the paper. The authors are thankful to Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, Founder President RBEF and Mr. Atul Chauhan, Chancellor AUUP for their constant support and motivation.

Conflict of interest

The Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author contribution

PS-Bench work, overall conduct of experiment and paper writing, ACK- Planning of experiment, overall guidance and supervision, MZA- secondary metabolite analysis and review, AV- research guidance and critical review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, E-3 Block, Fourth Floor, Sector 125, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201303, India

    Priyanka Sharma, Amit C. Kharkwal & Ajit Varma

  2. Jamia Hamdard University, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi, 110062, India

    M. Z. Abdin

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  1. Priyanka Sharma
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  2. Amit C. Kharkwal
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  3. M. Z. Abdin
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  4. Ajit Varma
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Correspondence to Amit C. Kharkwal.

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Sharma, P., Kharkwal, A.C., Abdin, M.Z. et al. Piriformospora indica improves micropropagation, growth and phytochemical content of Aloe vera L. plants. Symbiosis 64, 11–23 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-014-0298-7

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